Vance downplays renewed violence in Gaza, says truce will have ‘hills and valleys’

US Vice President JD Vance downplays the renewed violence in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, telling reporters that there would be “fits and starts” in the truce.

“Hamas is going to fire on Israel. Israel is going to have to respond,” he said.

“So we think that it has the best chance for a sustainable peace. But even if it does that, it’s going to have hills and valleys, and we’re going to have to monitor the situation.”

Vance calls on Gulf Arab countries to establish a “security infrastructure” in order to ensure that Hamas is disarmed, a key part of the peace deal.

“The Gulf Arab states, our allies, don’t have the security infrastructure in place yet to confirm that Hamas is disarmed,” he says.

Vance says that a member of the Trump administration was “certainly” going to visit Israel “in the next few days” to monitor the situation.

He does not confirm who that would be, but says, “it might be me.”

Earlier, a US official told The Times of Israel that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and fellow adviser to US President Donald Trump Jared Kushner would arrive in Israel Monday, while Vance would land in the country on Tuesday.

Nava Freiberg contributed to this report.